COVID-19: Restaurant Re-Opening Procedure

In accordance with Governor DeSantis’ Executive Order 20-112, issued Wednesday, April 29, 2020, restaurants are permitted to allow on-premises consumption of food and beverage beginning May 4, 2020, so long as they adopt appropriate social distancing measures and limit their indoor occupancy to no more than 25 percent of their building occupancy. In addition, outdoor seating is permissible with appropriate social distancing of 6 feet between parties, only seating parties of 10 or fewer people and keeping bar counters closed to seating.

Understanding that the business community has questions regarding the impact tooperations, the City has prepared this flier to provide additional guidance.

SOCIAL DISTANCING AND OTHER GUIDELINES FOR INDOOR AND EXISTING OUTDOOR OPERATIONS

The maximum size of any party shall be limited to ten persons per table.

Tables shall be at least 6 feet apart from other tables (measured from all edges of the table).

Restaurants are encouraged to use disposable menus or clean menus after each use.

All indoor restrooms shall be cleaned and sanitized on a more frequent schedule.

Points of ingress and egress shall not be blocked for any reason and all ADA requirements must be maintained.

NEW OUTDOOR OPERATIONS

Due to social distancing requirements of the governor’s executive order, the City understands that some restaurant establishments will seek alternatives to their existing indoor and outdoor configurations by extending operations to new outdoor areas including sidewalks, parking lots, etc.

In an effort to ensure that that above social distancing requirements are met while encouraging restaurant establishments to resume operations, the City is providing the following flexible outdoor operations allowances where they may not be permitted by City code otherwise:

Permit. A Temporary Outdoor Restaurant Operations Permit application shall be sent via e-mail to planning@port-orange.org or placed in the dropbox locations at City Hall. A Building Inspector or Planner will review final setup on-site. Permits are subject to termination by subsequent Executive Order of the Governor or the City Manager.

Occupancy. New outdoor operations cannot result in a total occupancy greater than the originally approved occupancy limit for the restaurant.

ADA Requirements. No temporary outdoor operations shall be placed on a sidewalk unless an accessible path is available.

Life Safety Requirements. There are to be no open flames under any outdoor tented area (including candles, mosquito repellant, tiki torches, etc.). Points of ingress egress shall not be blocked for any reason.

Tents. The maximum tent size shall be 10’ X 10’. Any tent size greater than 10’ X 10’ will require a building permit.

Traffic & Parking. New outdoor operations cannot interfere with normal vehicular traffic movement for the site which includes fire department access to the building, fire hydrants, and other firefighting equipment, and access from adjacent roadways. Restaurants are to remain in compliance with required parking ratios.

Division of Hotels and Restaurants (DBPR). Any related requirements and regulations from the Division of Hotels and Restaurants (DBPR) apply.

Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.